Network management interface for heterogeneous data network and system using the same

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for managing network objects in a heterogeneous network, a network management system and a network management apparatus are provided. The apparatus includes processor that receives, using a first protocol communicated using a communications protocol, a network management request to manage a network object in the heterogeneous network, and that transmits, according to a second protocol that is different than the first protocol, the network management request to the network object network management interface is provided.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

Apparatuses, devices and systems consistent with exemplary embodimentsrelate to management of computer networks and, more specifically, tonetwork management apparatuses, management protocols and systems usingthe same.

2. Description of the Related Art

Computer networks in enterprise and industrial environments includemultiple network objects. FIG. 1 illustrates a generic example of acomputer network. The network 100 includes various network objects. Forexample, the network objects may include infrastructure devices such asrouter/firewall 140; switches 120, 130, 150; access points 132, 134,136; and wireless LAN controllers (WLC) 125. The network objects mayalso include various computing devices, such as servers 110;workstations (PCs) 170, 180; printers 160; and portable computingdevices 133, 135 such as personal data assistants (PDAs) and mobileterminals. The network objects shown in FIG. 1 are not exhaustive, andnew network objects capable of interacting over a network are constantlybeing developed by various manufacturers.

A network 100 typically does not include network objects from only onemanufacture or running only one system. Rather, it is common to havenetwork objects from many manufacturers and having different networkmanagement protocols together on one network. A network including thesedisparate elements is called a heterogeneous network.

One example of a heterogeneous network is in the industrial automationcontext. In an industrial network, field devices that include varioussensors and control equipment used for monitoring a process may beprovided by one or more manufacturers. These field devices may beconnected to a switch that is purchased or otherwise provided fromanother manufacturer, and the switch may, in turn, be connected to amonitoring device made by another different manufacturer. Anotherexample of a heterogeneous network may be a network found in an officenetworking environment which has several printers made by differentmanufacturers, one or more servers provided by another manufacturer,several network switches made by another manufacturer that provideconnections to various workstations, which are perhaps manufactured bythe same manufacturer of the servers or perhaps by a differentmanufacturer.

Additionally, particularly in an industrial automation setting, oftenlegacy network objects, which have been in place for some time, and itis advantageous to add new network objects from different manufacturersto the network in order to provide for increased functionality.

As more and more network objects are added to the network, networkrelated conflicts between network objects can develop and communicationquality can degrade as new network objects add to the traffic on thenetwork, create security issues, and communications quality issues, etc.Network management operations are performed with respect to the networkobjects in order to ensure that the network is properly configured andprovisioned to maintain acceptable communication quality and security inthe network.

In order to efficiently carry out network management, it is convenientif the network administrator can carry out the network managementoperations from a centralized location using a workstation. In such acase, the network administrator manages the network objects remotelyusing a single program. This program allows the network administrator tomonitor the communication status of the network objects and to updatenetwork configuration information in the network objects to altervarious network properties such as the network topology, quality ofservice parameters, and so on.

Thus, it is advantageous if the network administrator can be able toeasily communicate with the network objects. Most network objects have anetwork management protocol that allows a network administrator tocommunicate with the network object from the management server tomonitor and configure the network object so that the networkadministrators can carry out network management operations. Using thenetwork management protocols, a network administrator can remotelymonitor communication status and configure and update networkconfiguration information in network objects. However, as discussedabove, these network management protocols are typically different fordifferent manufacturers, and one manufacturer or vendor may even providedifferent products that use different network management protocols.Additionally, as new network objects are added to increasefunctionality, legacy network objects and legacy network managementprotocols present challenges.

Thus, network management becomes difficult in the case of managingheterogeneous networks in which network objects are from differentmanufactures and use different network management protocols.

SUMMARY

According to an aspect of an exemplary embodiment, there is provided anapparatus for managing a plurality of network objects in a heterogeneousnetwork, the apparatus comprising a central processing unit thatreceives, using a first protocol communicated using a communicationsprotocol, a network management request to manage a network object in theheterogeneous network, and that transmits, according to a secondprotocol that is different than the first protocol, the networkmanagement request to the network object.

According to another aspect of an exemplary embodiment, there isprovided a network management apparatus for managing a plurality ofnetwork objects in a heterogeneous network, the network managementapparatus comprising a memory that stores a network object listcomprising network management information associated with the pluralityof network objects, the network management information comprising, foreach of the network objects, a network management protocol associatedwith the network object; a central processing unit that receives anetwork management request using a management information. exchangeprotocol communicated over a communications protocol, and that transmitsthe network management request to a network object of the plurality ofnetwork objects specified in the network management request using thenetwork management protocol associated with the network object in thenetwork object list, wherein the network management protocol each aredifferent than the management information exchange protocol.

According to another aspect of an exemplary embodiment, there isprovided a network management system for managing a heterogeneousnetwork, the network management system comprising a first networkmanager; and a first network management interface that is coupled to thenetwork manager and to a first network object, and that is configured tocommunicate with the network manager using a first network managementprotocol transmitted over a communications protocol, and to communicatewith the first network object according to a second network managementprotocol that is different from the first network management protocol.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and/or other aspects will be more apparent by describing indetail exemplary embodiments, with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of network devices;

FIG. 2 is a view illustrating a schematic configuration of a networkmanagement system according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a view illustrating a schematic configuration of a networkmanagement system according to another exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a view illustrating a schematic configuration of a networkmanagement system according to another exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a view illustrating a structural configuration of a networkmanagement interface (NMI) according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a view illustration a configuration of an NMI with networkdevices according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram of a network management systemaccording to an exemplary embodiment;

FIGS. 8 and 9 are an example of a network object list of a networkmanagement interface (NMI) shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is an example of a flowchart showing the operation of an NMIaccording to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 11 is an example of an activity diagram showing messagingoperations in a network management system according to an exemplaryembodiment; and

FIG. 12 is an example showing a network management interface in anetwork management system according to an exemplary embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Exemplary embodiments are directed to computer networks, networkmanagement software, and network management systems which providecentralized access to network configuration and monitoring informationin managed computer networks. Exemplary embodiments allow for exchangingnetwork management information between centralized network managementprograms and managed network objects in heterogeneous networks.

There are two approaches to network management. The first approach is atwo-tier approach in which a manager directly communicates with each ofthe network objects relying on pre-existing remote management protocolssupported by the network objects on the network in order to configureand manage the network objects.

However, the two-tier approach has disadvantages such as increasedfirewall management overhead and increased vulnerability to securityissues. When a manager directly exchanges network management informationwith network objects using different management protocols, severalfirewall rules need to be maintained in different firewalls to allow thecorresponding data traffic to pass through. The maintenance of suchfirewall rules can become cumbersome for the network administrator usingthe manager. Moreover, in cases in which the pre-existing networkmanagement protocols supported by the network objects do not provideadequate confidentiality and integrity of communications, the managerand the network objects become exposed to network security threats.

The two-tier approach also have disadvantages in that the two-tierapproach results in interruptions when adding new network objects andhave difficulty with scalability, particularly in a heterogeneousnetwork environment. For example, when a network object that uses a newnetwork management protocol is added to the network, the manager needsto be altered to support the new protocol. As a result, the manager mustbe taken offline in order to test and perform the update. Moreover, asthe number of network objects increases, performance issues arise at themanager responsible for communications with the network objects, asmemory and storage must be used for maintaining a larger number of dataexchange and communication contexts.

A second approach is a three-tiered approach in which an intermediarycomponent is provided between the manager and the network objects beingmanaged. Use of the intermediary component addresses some of thedisadvantages of the two-tier approach. However, the intermediarycomponents use a vendor specific network management protocol tocommunicate with network objects that are provided by the same vendor.For example, a manager may be used with Cisco wireless LAN controllersand Cisco Access Points. Accordingly, a management component isinstalled on each of the network objects being managed. This managementcomponent is the same for each network object. The intermediarycomponent receives requests from the manager and sends the requests tothe management component of the network objects.

However, in a heterogeneous network environment in which network objectsare manufactured by different manufacturers and use different networkmanagement protocols, it is not possible to install a common managementcomponent on each of the network objects, because the internal structureand software of the network objects are not known and/or not accessible.For example, a network object may have a proprietary structure andsoftware scheme. Thus, compatibility becomes a disadvantage of thethree-tier approach in the heterogeneous network environment.

Exemplary embodiments address the above disadvantages. However,exemplary embodiments are not required to address the disadvantages, anda particular exemplary embodiment might not address any of thedisadvantages discussed above.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments will be described in greater detailwith reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 2 is a view illustrating a configuration of a network managementsystem according to an exemplary embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, thenetwork management system 200 includes a manager 210, a networkmanagement interface (NMI) 220, and network objects 230, 240. Althoughtwo network objects 230, 240 are shown in FIG. 2, this is only forconvenience of description, and one of ordinary skill in the art willunderstand that one network object or more than two network objects maybe coupled to the NMI 220. That is, any number of network objects may beprovided.

The manager 210 may be coupled to the NMI 220 using either a wired orwireless connection. Examples of a wired connection include Ethernet,universal serial bus (USB), firewire, serial connection, etc. Examplesof a wireless connection include WiFi, Bluetooth, IEEE standards-basedconnections, etc. The manager 210 communicates with the NMI 220 using acommunications protocol (not shown in FIG. 2) such as TCP/IP, NovellNetwork, or similar low level communications protocol. Similarly, theNMI 220 may be coupled to the network objects 230, 240 using either awired or wireless connection. Any combination of connectionconfigurations between the manager 210 and the NMI 220, and between theNMI 220 and network objects 230, 240 may be used. For example, themanager 210 may be coupled to the NMI 220 using an Ethernet connectionover the internet, and the network object 230 may also be coupled to theNMI 220 over an Ethernet connection while the network object 240 may becoupled to the NMI 220 using a serial connection. However, one ofordinary skill in the art will understand that this is only an exampleand many different connection configurations are possible.

The manager 210, NMI 220, and network objects 230, 240 may be providedas part of the same local area network (LAN) or as part of a wide areanetwork (WAN). Thus, the manager 210, the NMI 220 and the networkobjects 230, 240 may be located locally, such as in one industrial plantor within one office building. Alternatively, the NMI 220 and thenetwork objects 230, 240 may be located locally with a same industrialplant or office, and the manager 210 may be provided remotely at anoff-site location so as to provide remote network management of the NMI220 and network objects 230, 240.

The network objects 230, 240 may be any network object that is capableof being managed on the network. For example, the network objects 230,240 may be any of the types of network objects shown in FIG. 1. Thus,the network objects 230, 240 may be infrastructure devices such asrouters 140; switches 120, 130, 150; access points 132, 134, 136; andwireless LAN controllers 125. The network objects 230, 240 may also bevarious computing devices, such as servers 110; workstations 170, 180;printers 160; and portable computing devices 133, 135 such as personaldata assistants (PDAs) and mobile terminals. As discussed above withrespect to FIG. 1, new network objects capable of interacting over anetwork are constantly being developed by various manufacturers. Thus,the network objects 230, 240 are not particularly limited, and may beany network object that is capable of being provisioned and configuredon the network.

As discussed above, it is common that the network objects are not allthe same. In other words, a given network will usually include networkobjects that are manufactured by one or more different vendors and/ormanufacturers, and operate according to one or more network managementprotocols. Some examples of legacy network management protocols are SNMP(rfc1157), NetConf (rfc4741), IOS (Cisco), TiMOS (Alcatel-Lucent), JunOS(Juniper), and Diameter (rfc3588). Additionally, manufacturers oftenhave their own proprietary network object structures, configurations,and network management protocols, which also may be legacy protocols.

The manager 210 may be, for example, a personal computer, workstation,or handheld computing device that is capable of being coupled to thenetwork. The manager 210 runs a computer program that provides a userinterface by which a network administrator can perform centralizednetwork management functions. Thus, a network administrator (not shown)operating the manager 210 is able to perform functions to provision andconfigure the NMI 220 and also the network objects 230, 240 on thenetwork.

The NMI 220 is a personal computer, workstation, or server that acts asan interface between the manager 210 and the network objects 230, 240 towhich the NMI 220 is coupled. The NMI 220 is provided separately fromthe manager 210.

As discussed above, the manager 210 runs a network management computerprogram. The network management computer program is configured tocommunicate with the NMI 220 using a first protocol 215. The firstprotocol 215 is a network management protocol and, in certain exemplaryembodiments, may be a management information exchange protocol, whichwill be described in more detail below. One of ordinary skill in the artwill understand that the first protocol 215 is a higher level protocolthan a communications protocol such as TCP/IP, Novell Network, and thelike. Network management information is formatted using the firstprotocol 215 and is packetized and sent to the NMI 220 using thecommunications protocol.

The NMI 220 also runs a computer program that is configured tocommunicate with the manager 210 using the first protocol 215. The NMI220 is also configured to communicate with the network objects 230, 240using a second protocol 225. The second protocol 225 is also a networkmanagement protocol and is different than the first protocol 215. Thesecond protocol 225 is a network management protocol of the networkobjects 230, 240 and thus allows communication of network managementinformation between the NMI 220 and the network objects 230, 240. Inother words, the NMI 220 is programmed with a module or modules forimplementing the network management protocol of the network objects 230,240 to which the NMI 220 is coupled. In FIG. 2, the network objects 230,240 are shown as both communicating using the second protocol 225.However, this is only an example, and one of ordinary skill in the artwill understand that the second protocol 225 may actually be separateprotocols, one unique to the network object 230 and one unique to thenetwork object 240. Such a situation may arise where the network objects230, 240 are manufactured by different manufacturers, or by a samemanufacturer but using different network management protocols.

FIG. 3 is a view illustrating a schematic configuration of a networkmanagement system according to another exemplary embodiment. As shown inFIG. 3, the network management system 300 according to this exemplaryembodiment includes a manager 310, a first NMI 320, and network objects330, 340. The manager 310 and first NMI 320 are each configured tocommunicate network management information with each other using a firstprotocol 315, and the first NMI 320 configured to communicate networkmanagement information with the network objects 330, 340 according to asecond protocol 325. The manager 310, first NMI 320, first protocol 315,second protocol 325, and network objects 330, 340 are the same as thosein FIG. 2, and thus repeated description will be omitted.

The network management system 300 further includes a second NMI 350. Thesecond NMI 350 is coupled to network objects 360, 370, and 380. Similarto the first NMI 320, the second NMI 350 is configured to communicatenetwork management information with the manager 310 using the firstprotocol 315. However, in this exemplary embodiment, the second NMI 350is also configured to communicate using a third protocol 355 and afourth protocol 357. The NMI 350 uses the third protocol 355 tocommunicate with network objects 360 and 370, and uses the fourthprotocol 357 to communicate with network object 380. In thisconfiguration, the third protocol 355 is unique to the network objects360, 370, which may, for example, be provided by a same manufacturer.The fourth protocol 357 is unique to the network object 380, which maybe provided by a different manufacturer than the network objects 330,340, 360, 370. One of ordinary skill in the art will understand thatalternatively the network object 380 may be coupled to an additional NMIsuch that the additional NMI handles the network object 380 which isprovided by a different manufacturer and/or uses a different networkcontrol protocol. In other words, the additional NMI would be configuredto communicate network management information using the fourth protocol.

Thus, according to the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the firstNMI 320 is provided to handle network objects 330, 340 from onemanufacturer, and the second NMI 350 is provided to handle networkobjects 360, 370, 380 from manufacturers different than the manufacturerof the network objects 330, 340. Accordingly, flexibility inconfiguration is increased. Additionally, when a network object that isfrom a new, different manufacturer and/or that uses a new, differentnetwork management protocol is added to the network, a networkadministrator can either modify one of the existing NMI on the network,or can add an additional NMI in order to handle the new networkmanagement protocol. Thus, additional network objects may be added tothe network and configured without taking existing NMIs offline, andscalability may similarly be increased.

In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the second NMI 350 includesthe third protocol 355 and the fourth protocol 357. However,alternatively, according to another exemplary embodiment, the second NMI350 may include the second protocol 325 of the first NMI 320 instead ofthe third and fourth protocols. Such a case may be advantageous, forexample, where network objects 330, 340, 360, 370, and 380 are providedby a same manufacturer and use the same network management protocol, butwhere the network objects 330 and 340 are physically separated fromnetwork objects 360, 370, 380 by a large distance. In such a case, thefirst NMI 320 and second NMI 350 may each be placed in closer proximityto their respective network objects. In other words, the number ofnetwork management interfaces does not necessarily depend on the numberof network management protocols.

FIG. 4 is a view illustrating a schematic configuration of a networkmanagement system according to another exemplary embodiment. As shown inFIG. 4, the network management system 400 according to this exemplaryembodiment includes a first manager 410, a first protocol 415, a firstNMI 420, a second protocol 425, a second NMI 440, a third protocol 445,and network objects 430, 435, 450, and 455. These elements aresubstantially the same as the manager 310, first protocol 315, first NMI320, second protocol 325, second NMI 350, third protocol 355, andnetwork objects 330, 340, 360, 370 shown in FIG. 3. Accordingly,repeated description of these elements will be omitted.

The network management system 400 of FIG. 4 further includes a third NMI470 which is coupled to network objects 480, 485, and 490. In thisexemplary embodiment, the third NMI 470 includes the fourth protocol475, which is substantially the same as the fourth protocol 357 of FIG.3. However, the third NMI 470 is coupled to a second manager 460. Thesecond manager 460 also is configured to use the first protocol 415 tocommunicate network management information with the third NMI 470. Thus,according to this exemplary embodiment, both the first manager 410 andthe second manager 460 are provided, which provides additionalscalability and flexibility.

FIG. 5 is a view illustrating a structural configuration of a networkmanagement interface (NMI) according to an exemplary embodiment. Asshown in FIG. 5, the NMI 500 includes a central processing unit (CPU)510, a storage 520, a memory 530, and a communications interface 540.The communications interface 540 includes an Ethernet interface 550, aserial interface 560, a USB interface 570, a wireless interface 580 andan other communications interface 590. The CPU 510 is connected to andcontrols the operation of the storage 520, the memory 530, and thecommunications interface 540. A computer program that is configured tocommunicate network management information to the manager using thefirst protocol, and to one or more network objects using one or moreadditional protocols (i.e., one or more of the second, third, fourthprotocols discussed above) is stored in the storage 520 and/or thememory 530. Upon running the computer program, the CPU 510 operates toformat the network management information according to one or morenetwork management protocols and to control communication of theformatted information through the communications interfaces 540.

FIG. 6 shows an example of connections to the NMI 500. The NMI 500 maybe connected to a manager 670 and network objects 650, 660 throughInternet 680 and the Ethernet interface 550. The NMI 500 may beconnected to network object 640 using the wireless interface 580,network object 630 using the other communication interface 590, networkobject 620 using USB interface 570, and network object 610 using serialinterface 560. The network objects 610, 620, 630, 640, 650, and 660 maycorrespond to any of the network objects described above, and themanager 670 may correspond to any of the managers described above.

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram of a network management systemaccording to an exemplary embodiment. As shown in 7, the networkmanagement system 700 includes a manager 701, one or more NMIs 702, andone or more network objects 703. However, the one or more NMIs will becollectively referred to by NMI 702, and the one or more network objectswill be referred to by network object 703.

The manager 701 includes a network management program that runs on themanager 701 and provides a user interface by which the networkadministrator may manage the network. The network management programincludes a management information controller module 710 for exchangingnetwork management information with the NMI 702 according to amanagement information exchange protocol 720. The NMI 702 includes anetwork management interface program that provides a managementinformation service module 730 for communicating directly with themanager 701 using a management information exchange protocol 720, andfor creating data exchange processes 750 for communicating directly withthe network objects 703 to communicate network management informationwith the network objects 703.

The network management program of the manager 701 uses the managementinformation controller module 710 to send requests to the NMI 702 toread and write network management information from and to the networkobjects 703. The management information exchange protocol 720 is used toformat and transport the requests and the responses between themanagement information controller module 710 of the manager 701 and thenetwork management interface 702.

The management information controller module 710 provides two functions.The first function is to exchange information with the network objects703 through the NMI 702. The management information controller module710 creates request messages and sends the request messages to the NMI702 over the network using the management information exchange protocol720. The management information controller module 710 is alsoresponsible for receiving and processing response messages from the NMI702. The management information controller module 710 thus forwardnetwork management information received from the NMI 702 to the networkmanagement program of the manager 701.

The second function of the management information controller module 710is to manage the NMI 702. The management information controller module710 thus allows the network administrator using the manager 701 toremotely configure the NMI 702 by sending management messages to the NMI702. Such management messages are formatted according to the managementinformation exchange protocol 720 and sent to the NMI 702 over thenetwork.

A single management information controller module 710 may communicatewith one or more NMIs 702.

The management information exchange protocol 720 specifies twocategories of messages. The first category of messages is related toreading and writing network management information from and to networkobjects 703. The second category of messages is related to themaintenance and configuration of the NMI 702.

The network management interface program of the NMI 702 includes amanagement information service module 730, a network object list 740,and one or more data exchange processes 750.

Network object list 740 includes information and parameters related tothe network objects 703 with which the NMI 702 can communicate. Theinformation and parameters may include, for example, specification ofthe network management protocols of the network objects 703 andparameters for reading and writing network management information toeach network object 703, identification of what network managementinformation can be read or written to each network object 703, andspecific commands used for reading and writing the information.

FIGS. 8 and 9 show an example of a network object list 740. As shown inFIG. 8, the network object list 740 includes object records 810, 820,830, etc. Each object record, for example object record 820, includes anobject identifier (ID) 830, one or more object-properties 840, 850, 860,etc. and one or more object-data 845, 855, 865, etc.

FIG. 9 shows a non-limiting example of an object record. The objectrecord has an object-ID 910 of “DEV-123456789022366”, and includesobject-properties 920, 930 of an “IP address” and a “ManagementProtocol”, respectively, and object-data 940, 950 of a “Radio channel”and an “Uptime”, respectively. The object-property 920 has fieldsincluding a Property-ID 921, a Property Name 922, an IP Version 923, andan IP-Address 924 with corresponding value fields 925-928 with values of“POP-00001”, “Device IP address”, “6”, and“3ffe:1900:4545:20:56cf:f8ff:76cf:00f3”, respectively. Theobject-property 930 has fields including a Property-ID 931, a PropertyName 932, a Protocol Name 933, and a Protocol Version 934 withcorresponding value fields 935-938 having values of “POP-00002”,“Management Protocol”, “SNMP”, and “2”, respectively. The object-data940 has fields including Data-ID 941, Data Name 942, Type 943, and SNMPOID 944 with value fields 945-948 having values of “DAT-00001”, “Radiochannel”, “Integer”, and “1.3.6.1.3.6.2.6.2”, respectively. Theobject-data 950 has fields including Data-ID 951, Data Name 952, Type953, and SNMP OID 954 with corresponding value fields 955-958 havingvalues of “DAT-00002”, “Uptime”, “String”, and “1.3.6.1.2.1.25.1.1.0”,respectively. It is to be noted that these fields are only examples, andmore or fewer fields may provided. Additionally, it should be noted thatthese are only examples, and any properties and data may be specified inthe network object list 740.

Turning back now to FIG. 7, the management information service module730 receives, sends, and processes messages from the managementinformation controller modules 710 of one or more managers 701. When arequest message is received by the management information service module730, the request is processed according to the type of networkmanagement information contained in the message.

The data exchange processes 750 are created by the managementinformation service module 730 for reading or writing network managementinformation to and from a given network object 703. Each data exchangeprocess 750 when created is provided with information related to thetasks assigned to the process. The data exchange process refers to thenetwork object list 740 to obtain detailed information on how to performthe read or write operations. The data exchange processes 750 may alsobe used to perform periodic communication with the network objects 703.

The processing performed by the management information service module730 will be described below in more detail with reference to theflowchart shown in FIG. 10, which shows an example of the processaccording to an exemplary embodiment.

The process 1000 begins by the management information service module 730receiving a message in operation S1010. In operation S1020, it is thendetermined whether the message is a request for communicating networkmanagement information with a network object.

If the message is a request for communicating network managementinformation with a network object (S1020: YES), the message is forwardedto a data exchange process in operation S1030, and it is determinedwhether the message is a request for reading network managementinformation in operation S1040.

If the message is not a request for reading network managementinformation (S1040: NO), the message is a request for writing networkmanagement information. The network management information is thenwritten to the network object and verified in operation S1045, and anacknowledgement is sent to the requestor to notify the requestor of thesuccess or failure of the write operation in operation S1090.

If the message is a request for reading network management information(S1040: YES), the network management information is read from thenetwork object in operation S1050, and a message is sent to therequestor containing the read information in operation S1080.

Returning to operation S1020, if the message is not a request forcommunicating network management information with a network object(S1020: NO), then it is determined whether the message is a request forreading information from the network object list in operation S1060. Ifthe message is a request for reading information (S1060: YES), then therequested information is read from the network object list in operationS1070, and a message is sent to the requestor with the read informationin operation S1080.

If the request is not for reading information from the network objectlist (S1060: NO), then the request is for writing information to thenetwork object list. The information is written to the network objectlist and verified in operation S1065. Then, an acknowledgement is sentto the requestor to notify the requestor of the success or failure ofthe write operation in operation S1090. After sending theacknowledgement, the process ends. It is noted that the acknowledgementoperation is optional and may be omitted in some cases.

FIG. 11 is an example of an activity diagram showing messagingoperations in a network management system according to an exemplaryembodiment. With reference to FIGS. 7 and 11, a non-limiting example ofa management information exchange protocol will be described.

For example, the management information exchange protocol 720 (see FIG.7) may specify at least two categories of messages communicated betweenthe centralized network management program of the manager 701 and thenetwork management interface program of the NMI 702. The first categoryof messages is I/O messages for reading and writing managementinformation to and from the network objects 703 through the NMI 702. Thesecond category of messages is management messages for managing the NMI702.

I/O messages 1110 (see activity chart in FIG. 11) are used to remotelyread and write network management information to and from the networkobjects 703 through the NMI 702. The I/O messages may include I/Orequest (IOREQ) messages and I/O response (IORESP) messages.

The following is an example of a specification for an I/O Requestmessage (IOREQ) message:

-   -   IOREQ=MSG-TYPE, sequence-of IO-JOB    -   IO-JOB=ACCESS-MODE, OBJECT-ID, DATA-ID, (DATA), (READ-INTERVAL)

When the network management program of the manager 710 performscommunications, such as reading and/or writing operations, with a givennetwork object 703, the management information controller module 710 ofthe network management program of the manager 701 sends an IOREQ message(1115) that contains one or more read and write jobs (Sequence of IO-JOBstructures) to the management information service module 730 of theappropriate NMI 702 associated with the given network object 703.

Each read or write job specifies a type of the operations (ACCESS-MODEis used to specify whether reading or writing), a unique identifier ofthe corresponding object (OBJECT-ID) and an identifier of the data(DATA-ID). The OBJECT-ID and DATA-ID include values that correspond,respectively, to an Object-Record and Object-Data record in the networkobject list of the NMI. The request may also include a parameter tospecify a read frequency (READ-INTERVAL) in the case that thecentralized network management program, for example, periodicallymonitors status information in the network object 703. In case of awrite request, the data to be written is included in the job request(DATA). The management information service 703 of the NMI 702 creates adata exchange process 750 and forwards the I/O job specifications(IO-JOB) (1120) to the data exchange process. The data exchange process750 then carries out the read or write request according to the job(1125) with the network object 703, and receives either data oracknowledgement (1130) from the network object 703 as the case may be.The data exchange process 750 then forwards the data or acknowledgement(1135) to the management information service module 730.

The following is an example of a specification for an I/O Requestmessage (IORESP) message:

-   -   IORESP=MSG-TYPE, sequence-of IO-RESPONSE    -   IO-RESPONSE=ACCESS-MODE, OBJECT-ID, DATA-ID, (DATA),        (READ-INTERVAL), STATUS

When a read or write operation is completed, an IORESP response message(1140) is sent by the management information service module 730 of theNMI 702 to the management information controller module 710 of themanager 701. The response message includes one or more outcomes(Sequence of IO-RESPONSE structures) from the read and write jobs thatwere requested by the management information controller module 710. Eachoutcome includes information about the requested job operation(ACCESS-MODE, OBJECT-ID, DATA-ID and READ-INTERVAL) and informationabout the success or failure of the read or write operation (STATUS). Inthe case of a requested read operation, the information that wasrequested to be read from the network object 703 is included in theresponse (DATA).

As described above, the second category of messages is managementmessages for managing the NMI 702. Management messages 1150 (seeactivity chart in FIG. 11) are used to maintain the network object list740 of the NMI 702. The management messages may include objectmanagement request (OMREQ) messages and an object management response(OMRESP) messages.

The following is an example of a specification for an object managementrequest (OMREQ) message:

-   -   OMREQ=MSG-TYPE, sequence-of OM-JOB    -   OM-JOB=OPERATION, OBJECT-ID, (PROPERTY-ID), (DATA)

The operations that may be performed on the network object list 740include, for example, creating and deleting object-record entries andreading and modifying object-properties and object-data.

When the network management program of the manager 701 performs managingoperations, such as creating, deleting, reading or modifying, of thenetwork object list 740 of a given NMI 702, the management informationcontroller module 710 of the network management program of the manager701 sends an OMREQ message (1155) to the management information servicemodule 730 of the NMI 702 specifying the type of operation to be carriedout (using the OPERATION field) and the relevant information forcarrying out the operation (OBJECT-ID, PROPERTY-ID, DATA,READ-INTERVAL). The OBJECT-ID and PROPERTY-ID include values thatcorrespond, respectively, to an Object-Record and Object. Propertyrecord in the network object list of the NMI.

When deleting or creating an empty Object-Record, the identifier of theobject (OBJECT-ID) alone may be indicated. However, when writing orreading object properties, the identifier of the property to be read ormodified is specified (PROPERTY-ID) in addition to the object(OBJECT-ID). For writing operations, the data to be written is alsoprovided (DATA). The management information service module 730 thencreates, deletes, reads, or writes an object record (1160) according tothe request, and data or an acknowledgement (1165) may be returned tothe management information service module 730.

The following is an example of a specification for an object managementresponse (OMRESP) message:

-   -   OMRESP=MSG-TYPE, sequence-of OM-RESPONSE    -   IO-RESPONSE=OPERATION, OBJECT-ID, (PROPERTY-ID), (DATA), STATUS

When the management operation (create, delete, read or write) iscompleted, an OMRESP response (1170) message is sent by the managementinformation service module 730 of the NMI 702 to the managementinformation controller module 710 of the manager 701. The responsemessage includes one or more outcomes (Sequence of OM-RESPONSEstructures) resulting from the management jobs that were requested bythe management information controller module 710. Each outcome containsinformation about the requested job operation (OPERATION, OBJECT-ID andPROPERTY-ID) and information about the success or failure of theoperation (STATUS). In the case of a read operation, the informationthat was read from the network object list 740 is included (DATA).

FIG. 12 illustrates a non-limiting example showing a network managementinterface in a network management system according to an exemplaryembodiment. As shown in the network 1200 in FIG. 12, two communicationtechnologies, i.e., WiFi/IEEE 802.11 and ISA100.11a, are provided. Eachof the communications technologies are used by various network objects,including infrastructure objects (e.g., WiFi Access Points (AP) 1274,1272; switch 1270; ISA100.11a routing devices 1262, 1264; and switch1260), end node objects (e.g., WiFi devices 1275 and ISA100.11a I/Odevices 1265), and management objects (e.g., WiFi Controller 1250 andISA100.11a manager 1245). These infrastructure objects, end nodeobjects, and management objects constitute the set of network objectsthat are managed by the centralized network management program runningon host server 1220.

A serial interface connection may be used to connect the NMI 1240 to theISA100.11a manager 1245, and a TCP/IP connection over an Ethernetnetwork may be used to communicate with the WiFi controller 1250. Anetwork administrator 1210 connects at terminal 1215 to the centralizednetwork management application running on the host server 1220 tomonitor and control the network objects being managed. Messagesexchanged between the centralized network management application runningon the host server 1220 and the NMI 1240 using the managementinformation exchange protocol are formatted according to the managementinformation exchange protocol and relayed using a communication protocolto a router/firewall 1235. Once received by the NMI 1240, the messagesare read and formatted according to the network management protocol forWiFi/IEEE 802.11 or ISA100.11a and sent using the appreciate TCP/IP orserial communication protocol to the network object. Alternatively oradditionally to network administrator 1210, a remote networkadministrator 1211 may access host server 1220 through terminal 1216through the Internet. In other words, multiple network administratorsmay access host server 1220 through terminals and use the host server1220 to run the network management program to interact with the NMI1240.

The foregoing exemplary embodiments and advantages are merely exemplaryand are not to be construed as limiting the present inventive concept.The exemplary embodiments can be readily applied to other types ofapparatuses. Also, the description of the exemplary embodiments isintended to be illustrative, and not to limit the scope of the claims,and many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent tothose skilled in the art.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus comprising: a central processingunit configured to receive a network management request for managing atleast one of first and second network objects, the reception beingperformed by using a first protocol, the first protocol being used formanaging a first network, the first network object being connected to asecond network, the second network being different from the firstnetwork, the second network object being connected to a third network,the third network being different from the first network; and a memorywhich associates a first identifier and a second protocol with eachother and stores the first identifier and the second protocol, the firstidentifier identifying the first network object, the second protocolbeing used for managing the second network, the second protocol beingused by the first network object, the second protocol being differentfrom the first protocol, and associates a second identifier and a thirdprotocol with each other and stores the second identifier and the thirdprotocol, the second identifier identifying the second network object,the third protocol being used for managing the third network, the thirdprotocol being used by the second network object, the third protocolbeing different from the first protocol, wherein the central processingunit is configured to read, from the memory, at least one of the secondand third protocols associated with the at least one of the first andsecond network objects managed by the network management request, andtransmit the network management request to the at least one of the firstand second network objects, the transmission being performed by usingthe at least one of the second and third protocols read from the memory.2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the firstto third protocols is a legacy protocol.
 3. The apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein when the network management request is a request formanaging a network object list, the central processing unit is furtherconfigured to manage the network object list according to the networkmanagement request.
 4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein thenetwork management request is a request to update the network objectlist, and the central processing unit is further configured to transmit,using the first protocol, a response indicating that the network objectlist has been updated.
 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, whereinthe central processing unit is further configured to receive, using theat least one of the second and third protocols, a response to thenetwork management request from the at least one of the first and secondnetwork objects that received the network management request, andtransmit the received response using the first protocol.
 6. Theapparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a plurality ofcommunication interfaces, each of the first and second network objectsbeing connected to at least one of the plurality of communicationinterfaces, wherein a network object list includes a network managementinformation, the network management information being for each of thefirst and second network objects, the network management informationregarding the at least one of the plurality of communication interfacesto which the at least one of the first and second network objects isconnected, and the central processing unit is further configured totransmit the network management request to the at least one of the firstand second network objects using a communications interface for the atleast one of the first and second network objects based on the networkmanagement information in the network object list.
 7. The apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein a manufacturer of the at least one of thefirst and second network objects is different from a manufacturer of theapparatus.
 8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the networkmanagement request does not include information on the at least one ofthe second and third protocols used by the at least one of the first andsecond network objects to which the network management request is to betransmitted.
 9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at leastone of the second and third protocols is a legacy protocol, and thefirst protocol is not a legacy protocol.
 10. A network management systemcomprising: a first network manager; and a first network managementinterface, wherein the first network management interface comprises: acentral processing unit configured to receive a network managementrequest for managing at least one of first and second network objects,the reception being performed by using a first protocol, the firstprotocol being used for managing a first network, the first networkobject being connected to a second network, the second network beingdifferent from the first network, the second network object beingconnected to a third network, the third network being different from thefirst network; and a memory which associates a first identifier and asecond protocol with each other and stores the first identifier and thesecond protocol, the first identifier identifying the first networkobject, the second protocol being used for managing the second network,the second protocol being used by the first network object, the secondprotocol being different from the first protocol, and associates asecond identifier and a third protocol with each other and stores thesecond identifier and the third protocol, the second identifieridentifying the second network object, the third protocol being used formanaging the third network, the third protocol being used by the secondnetwork object, the third protocol being different from the firstprotocol, wherein the central processing unit is configured to read,from the memory, at least one of the second and third protocolsassociated with the at least one of the first and second network objectsmanaged by the network management request, and transmit the networkmanagement request to the at least one of the first and second networkobjects, the transmission being performed by using the at least one ofthe second and third protocols read from the memory, and wherein thefirst network management interface is connected to the first networkmanager and to the first and second network objects, and is configuredto communicate with the first network manager using the first protocoltransmitted over a communication protocol, and to communicate with theat least one of the first and second network objects.
 11. The networkmanagement system according to claim 10, wherein a manufacturer of theat least one of the first and second network objects is different from amanufacturer of the first network management interface.
 12. The networkmanagement system according to claim 10, further comprising: a secondnetwork management interface that is connected to the first networkmanager and a third network object, the second network managementinterface being configured to communicate with the first network managerusing the the first protocol transmitted over the communicationsprotocol, the second network management interface communicating with thethird network object according to a fourth protocol, the fourth protocolbeing different from the first protocol.
 13. The network managementsystem according to claim 12, wherein the fourth protocol is differentfrom the at least one of the second and third protocols.
 14. The networkmanagement system according to claim 10, further comprising: a secondnetwork manager; and a second network management interface that isconnected to the second network manager and the third network object,the second network management interface being to communicate with thesecond network manager using the first protocol transmitted over thecommunications protocol, the second network management interfacecommunicating with the third network object according to a fourthprotocol, the fourth protocol being different from the first protocol.15. The network management system according to claim 14, wherein thefourth protocol is different from the at least one of the second andthird protocols.
 16. A network management interface apparatuscomprising: a central processing unit configured to receive a networkmanagement request for managing at least one of first and second networkobjects, the reception being performed by using a management informationexchange protocol, the management information exchange protocol beingused for managing a first network, the first network object beingconnected to a second network, the second network being different fromthe first network, the second network object being connected to a thirdnetwork, the third network being different from the first network; and amemory which associates a first identifier and a first networkmanagement protocol with each other and stores the first identifier andthe first network management protocol the first identifier identifyingthe first network object, the first network management protocol beingused for managing the second network, the first network managementprotocol being used by the first network object, the first networkmanagement protocol being different from the management informationexchange protocol, and associates a second identifier and a secondnetwork management protocol with each other and stores the secondidentifier and the second network management protocol, the secondidentifier identifying the second network object, the second networkmanagement protocol being used for managing the third network, thesecond network management protocol being used by the second networkobject, the second network manage protocol being different from themanagement inform information exchange protocol, wherein the centralprocessing unit is configured to read, from the memory, at least one ofthe first and second network management protocols associated with the atleast one of the first and second network objects managed by the networkmanagement request, and transmit the network management request to theat least one of the first and second network objects, the transmissionbeing performed by using the at least one of the first and secondnetwork management protocols read from the memory.
 17. The networkmanagement apparatus according to claim 16, wherein at least one of thefirst and second network management protocols, and the managementinformation exchange protocol is a legacy protocol.
 18. The networkmanagement apparatus according to claim 16, wherein when the networkmanagement request is a request for managing a network object list, thecentral processing unit is further configured to manage the networkobject list according to the network management request.
 19. The networkmanagement apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the networkmanagement request is for updating the network object list, and thecentral processing unit is further configured to transmit, using themanagement information exchange protocol, a response indicating that thenetwork object list has been updated.
 20. The network managementapparatus according to claim 16, wherein the central processing unit isfurther configured to receive, using the at least one of the first andsecond network management protocols, a response to the networkmanagement request from at least one of the first and second networkobjects that received the network management request, and transmit thereceived response using the management information exchange protocol.